Automatic gas separator for oil wells



INVENTOR Patented Dec. 5, 1922.

fuvon E, Cidvk iti B E. CLARK.

AUTOMATIC GAS SEPARATOH FOR OIL WELLS.

Amlcmon man ocr. 4.19m.

QL/hum S m W ATTORN EY Patented Dee. A5, i922.

d unirnos 'reir FATE-Nr lfFF`IICEf y soufron n. cnanmorrrrrsnuaen, rnnivsrnvama. f

AUTOMATIC ses; snraneron ron oir. uirnLits.

Application ledL Octoberl, 1921. lSerialNo. 505,238.

To czlZZ 'whom I? may concern: n Be it known that l, BURTONE. CLARK,k a citizen of the "United `fftates, vresiding' at Pittsburgh, in the countyof Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and` useful improvements Ain' Automatic Gas Separators for Oil Wells, of kwhich the followingis a specication.l

This invention has reference to automatic gas separators for oil Wells, and'its object 1s to separate the gas from` saltwater facrfcu` mulating' in the foil ',vvells afte'r'reaching the surface of the ground, so that the dry gas may be directed into gas mainsifor use, 'and the salt Water may be saved for .the recovery otthesaltr i, ,f l.

lnaccordance with the vinvention, the Wells, which may reach a depth of two thous-`` and feet or more,l and farefappropriately 2O v l ordinarily, in the gas-producing sands ot' Vlest Virginia, Pennsylvania, `Ohio` `'and indiana, pierce a formation, vknown as vvet f sand. This sand or; sandstone,` as it is known, contains salt .,Water, loil and gas.

Under ordinary conditions heretofore pre! vailing, the valves, Apumps yand Aother ima#` chinery, designed tosavethegas ma dry andsalable condition, become uselessin a forming a depositof salt:A and rustv around the Working parts.

yTo avoid these difficulties is the object lot the invention and-it comprises a simple de-y vice Without movableparts,` vvvhichpin' use, has proven to be eiiicientiandadaptablepto Wells of any size.

-After drilling a` Welll into the ivetsa'nd,`r

asitfiscalledhe Well will lupto a depth 40 of about i800 vfeet lwith salt.vvateranolfre-y main there Withthegas held back until a.L

head or ,rock pressure has forn'ied'suiiicient to lift this 180.0eet o'lf VWater in the cas ing, When it will usually iioW for about two or three minutes until the `pressure has be come exhausted,yvhen Will settle back as before until another headrhas formed. After each flow, the gas lgets gradually weaker untilA Within a few days it `Will not raise the Water and the/'Well becomes drowned out.

lt requires one pound of gas pressure to raise Water twvoji'eetf in `a `oneginch pipe, wherefore, to` raise. the Water '1800 feetrequires 900 pounds. 55

To obviatethis and save `the Well, the device of this invention has been evolved and `eighth of kits bulk to be solid salt.

however, that the invention is not confined cased asis the custom insuch wells', vvill` veryshort time, `bywreason of, the salt Water has been used Vfor eighteen monthspand has put about/lOOOO feet lofgas in the main line daily, andiurthermore, has brought up and disposed or'cver 175 barrels of salt Water daily, which Water, by analysis, shows one- Moreover, the flow has' ynever stopped and has required 4no, expense. y l

The inventionv will beL bestv understood *from a consideration "of the following4 detailed` description, talen 'in vconnection with the accompanying drawings, forming part of ,this`specificati'on,`l with the understandinO i to any strict conformity With'the showing `ott-he drawing, but ymay be `c,lranged and l modified so long1 as such changes and modi`-` i tications mark nomateria'l ydeparturei'rom the salient features of lthe,"invention, as ex pressed in the n appended claims.

In the dravvingzff Figure luis alongitudinal section,`1nore orless schematically displayed, of a `gas producing `Well `With the invention applied;

I FigureQ is a ysection* on the ,line 2-2 of A yReferring tothe drawings, there is shown a Well casing l, extending` from the surface foi the ground,`to a vdepth dening'the upper surface of alayer on stratum 2, of sand-l stone infiltrated `With vsalt Water, `oil and gas, ultimately finding its Way into a bore i to the bore 3, is a tube, which may be Vof considerably smaller kdiameterthan the casing. ,i `Atfthe', lower: end of the tube 5, there is .secured `an atolnizer cylinder 6', of larger in .the sand, 2, in which bore the liquid diameter thanthe tube 5, and of smaller dianieter tlianthe bore, 3, said cylinder` being closed atthe bottomran'd havingits only outletat thetop through the tube 5.

in actual practice the cylinder k(5 maybe considered as four inches in diameter and f sir;- feetI long Withthe bottom closed and inA which a ysolid core r is installed, rising from theclosedbottom of :the cylinder to- Ward the top thereof for yaboutv threeeet.

@in tour sides of the'cylinder there is pro.

duced upright series of sixsmall holes 6a,

'extending` from the bottom of the vcylinder upwardly, orQ in all, y More holesfif made smaller, maybe used or a lesser number of holes, if larger. Vithout confining the nurnber of holes to 24, such number is preferred.

At the upper end of thecylinderwhere it is entered by the tube there is produced a single hole 8 at about-sii; inches below where the cylinder is connected to the tubing 5. rlhis hole equals in size two ofthe holes 6a in the lower part of the cylinder. The cylinder 6 operates as an atomizing cylinder, and is connected to the bottom of the tubing 5 within bore 3, in such way that it will be practically at the bottom of the well, and inside thezone of high pressure.

T he tubing 5 is continued to and extended up from the surface or top of the casing 1, to any desired height, where, by a right angle bend or elbow 9, it is connected to a tank 10, at a point about three-quarters of the distance above the bottom of the tank.

rlh'is tank 10 is closed at the top and bot-` tom, rexcept fora two inch tubing l1, leading to point where the gas is to be forced into `the main line- There is installed a valve 12 in the pipe 5 adjacent to the tank 10, andanother valve 13 in the'tubing '11. Another pipek 14 is connected to the tank 10, at a point near the bottom thereof, and this pipe 111` terminates at the upper end in a downwardly bent return bend 15. The pipe 14 is conveniently made of one inch size and rises to a height kabout two feet less than the tubing 5 where the latter enters the tank 10. The valve or gate 12 may be located as shown in the drawing or at any convenient point above the surface of the ground, or in the well, when desired. n

, When the valve 12 is closed a gas head or rock pressure is gradually formed in the bore 3 under the packer-1. On opening the valve 12, a pressure of water, which practically .fills the pressure chamber 3 at this stage', allows gas to gradually fill under the packer a and force the water downy through the holes or perforations 6 in the cylinder 'until it reaches a point below the dry gas entrance 8, ywhereupon the dry gas is forced in at the top of the cylinder @which at once relieves half of theA gas pressurein the cyllinder. v The pressure drives the water down vand up through the lower holes 6a after being broken into a spray by coming in contact.y with the center obstruction 7, under pressure. This spray coming in contact with vgas under high pressure entering through the opening 8, is fiirther broken and thoroughly atomized, and is carried up through the tube 5 with very little resistance andl is deposited in the tank l0, where the pressure, being released, the water gravitates to the bottom of the tank and the gas accumulates at the top thereof. It now becomes necessary to form an artificial or back pressure in order that the gas can be forced into the gas main for sale, against 'a varying line pressure. This is furnished by the action of the upright pipe 121, making a seal at thel bottoni and extending up two feet for each pound of back pressure required. The varying gas or line pressure in the main 11 will vary the height of water in the separating tank 10. YShould the pressure be heavy it would drive the water down in the tank proportionately. Should the pressure be light the water will rise until it reaches a level with the overthrow 15, where the water flows off by gravity.

The advantage of the present invention is that, the gas will find its way into the main without any possibility of water reaching the main 11, but simply passing off by the escape lil- 15.

automatic, requiring absolutely no attention `after the installation of the system as a whole. r1`he invention will handle satisfactorily wells with more than the ordinary amount of water and less than the ordinary amount of gas, and the invention has the capacity of gradually exhausting the water and thus increasing the flow of gas. f Themainfeature ofthe invention cornprises a powerful atomizer system contained in theycylinder 6 as a whole, and the special feature of the cylinder being the entrance 8 for dry gas and which entrance, has and performs many functions including the complete atomizing of the already broken water. This prevents the well from being flooded by doubling the gas pressure the moment the water rises sufficiently to cover the inlet 8 and the water is forced torecede to the rcapacity of the lower holes of the cylinder 6, when it instantly and automatically again assumes the function of atomizing the broken spray, carrying it out at a greater speed until the well again becomes normal, whereby thek action-is that of a governor over the whole system.

What is claimed isz- `1. ln an oil andgasr well, provided with a closed cavity or borein the lower gas bearing strata, an atomizer structure for location low point and a single gas inlet at a high point. o

2. In an oil and gas well, provided with a closed cavity or bore inv the lower gas bearing strata, an atomizer structure for location in the cavity. a separating tank for gas and water located at the upper end of the with the latter provided with a liquid over` flow determining the accumulating level of liquid therein, and connections from the separating tank to a gas main, the atomizing structure having water and gas inlets at a low point and a single gas inlet at a high point, the single gas inlet having substantially twice the area of any one ot the gas and water inlets.

3. ln an oil and gas well provided with a closed cavity or bore'in the lower or gas bearing zone, an atomizerstructure located in the cavity, a separating tank for gas and water located at the upper end of the well, and a pipe connecting the atomizer structure with the high point of the separating tank, the atomizer structure being provided with a centralized coreA and peripheral perforations rising to substantially the same height and terminating at about intermediate of the height of the atomizer structure, a single perforation through the cylinder of about twice the area of one of the first-named perorations and located closely adjacent to the top of the cylinder, and a liquid and gas pipe rising from the top of the cylinder and extending to the top of the well.

.4. In an oil and gas well, provided with a closed cavity or bore in the lower or gasbearing strata, an atomizer structure for location in the cavity and comprising a cylinder having perforations in the lower end to about half the height or the cylinder, a core in the cylinder rising to about the same height, a pipe connected to and rising from the top of the cylinder, a tank at the top of the well opening into the tank near the upper end thereof, and provided with a cut-olf valve in accessible position, valved connections lfrorn the top of the tank to a service main, and an equalizing pipe rising from the bottom portion of the tank to a determined height, less than the connection of the valve pipe with the tank.

In testimony, that I claim the foregoing as my own, I have hereto aixed my signature.

BURTON E. CLARK. 

